Promoting the Dignity of parenting Youth: Digital Storytelling and Organizing as Tools to engage young parenting Latinas

Often, the reproductive and sexual health issues that young people face are shaped by socioeconomic determinants and policies at the local level, including disparities in access to housing, education, food, and state-supported services as part of a local healthography that shapes their health and wellbeing.  The U.S. cultural and political landscape often presents young motherhood as a public health problem to be prevented or solved.  In this session, we discuss a current collaboration between the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health to challenge cultural frameworks that stigmatize young motherhood and expand advocacy conversations beyond the federal level. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health will share their work to shift policies from a prevention-only frame to resolve teen unintended pregnancies to a reproductive justice frame that includes a holistic approach focused on lived realities and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care for young Latinas.  Best practices discussed will include the formation of several Young Moms groups and the findings of a digital storytelling project to elevate and insert the voices of young mothers in the national rhetoric regarding young motherhood.  Panelists will also discuss how these practices create networks of support and empowerment for pregnant and parenting youth while building their leadership capacity.